Belgrade sentenced 14 Western leaders to 20 years in prison each on
Thursday for war crimes during last year's NATO air strikes and
said it would issue arrest warrants.
US President Bill Clinton, Jacques Chirac of France, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and 11 other leaders have been on trial since
Monday in the Belgrade District Court. Empty seats in the courtroom
were labelled with their names.
"In the name of the people...We sentence...to individual prison
terms of 20 years each," presiding judge Veroljub Rakitic said,
reading out the 14 names to applause. He said an order was given to
issue arrest warrants against them.
The 14 were found guilty as charged for inciting a war of
aggression, war crimes against the civilian population, use of
banned weapons, attempted murder of President Slobodan Milosevic
and the violation of Yugoslavia's territorial integrity.
Milosevic was indicted with four close aides by the International
War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia for repressing ethnic
Albanians in Kosovo before and during the bombing, in March to June
of last year.
The tribunal refused to open an investigation into allegations that
NATO leaders were guilty of war crimes in the air campaign that
forced Serb forces to withdraw from Kosovo.
"They fired 600 cruise missiles and made 25,119 air sorties during
the 78-day aggression, attacking both military and civilian
targets, killing and wounding many people and causing mass
destruction of property," the charges read.
"During their so-called humanitarian intervention they have killed
546 soldiers and 504 civilians, of whom 88 children... They left
behind them devastation in the place of modern factories, bridges,
schools," Rakitic said.
The trial began a few days before September 24 elections which the
Yugoslav government portrays as a choice between "patriotism and
treachery" branding its domestic opponents traitors and NATO
lackeys plotting to destroy Serbia.
Accused said to be afraid to appear
Rakitic said the accused had violated the United Nations Charter
and described the attacks as "an unauthorised aggression on a
sovereign country".
"We invited the accused to come to the court and present their
defence. They ignored the invitation, or were maybe afraid to face
reality and their consciences," he said.
During the three-day trial video material was presented as evidence
and forensic and other reports and testimonies of survivors read
out. Defence attorneys also had their say.
Slavisa Mrdakovic, who was appointed to defend Chirac, said Clinton
may have kept other leaders in the dark.
"If I were the judge, and it's a good thing I am not, I
would...take a gun and shoot both Clinton and the other scum for
all the evil they have done," he was quoted by independent news
agency Beta as saying on Wednesday.
Rakitic expressed regret the penal code had not foreseen higher
penalties.
"Our humane criminal code does not stipulate higher sentences
because it could not be foreseen that such a crime could be
committed...that is why this court is limited by the penalty and
has sentenced each accused to 20 years," he said.
COPYRIGHT REUTERS
